Grain-cleaner.



T. O. HELGERSON.

GRAIN CLEANER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 29, 19084 Patented Mar. 5, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

T. O. HELGERSON. GRAIN CLEANER. APPLICATION rum) BEPT. 29, 1908.

1,470 v Patented Mar. 5, 1912.

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T. 0. HELGERSON.

GRAIN CLEANER. APPLICATION FILED um. 29, 1908.

Patentd Mar.5, 1912.

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Un l]! Z9 mmn STATES PATENT orrrca THOMAS O. HIELGERSON, ormnvmsnrous,mrn'NEsoTA, ASSIG-NOR or ONE-HALF m FOSSTON MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OFST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, A CORPORATION OF MINNESOTA.

GRAIN-CLEANER.

Patented Mar. 5, 1912.

.To all whom it mag ransom:

Be it known that I, THoMAs O. Hangma- "sON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing.

at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, havemvented certain new and useful Improvements in Graina Cleaners, of whichthe following is a specification.

pneumatic means for removingthe lighter materiaL-such as dust, finedirt, chafi', small pin oats and 'fineseed, from the grainbefore itreaches the scalping screens, and to provide improved means for feedingand regulating the supply of grain from the hopper to the cleaningapparatus.

With these objects in views I have devised a grain cleaner wherein the"grain to be cleaned is fed into a wind trunk in the path of a current ofair,.which carries off the lighter'material and allows the grain to fallupon the scalping screens. I

More,-part icularly the invention consists in the construction,combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.1 7

In the accompanying drawings forming partof this specification, Figure 1is a vertical longitudinal section through the middle "of a graincleaner embodying the invention .taken on line wwofv Fig. 4:, with theair outlet flue partly broken away; Fig. 2'is a verticalsection'on liney'y of. Fig. 1; Fig.

3 is a perspective View of the feed regulating devices-and a fragmentofthe hopper bottom; Fig. 4:. is-a'horizontal section on line a-a of Fig.1.; Fig. 5 ,is a vertical section of a fragment of the .wind trunk onlines-s of Fig. 4,- and- Fig. 6 is a side view of a fragment I of. the:frame, showing the fan casing,, hopper and partof the Wind trunk. Inthe drawings A-represents the frame of the machinefB the'upper shoe,whereinis arranged the usual gang of scalping screens 2, and "C thelower shoe in which supported a screenBE rTheconstruction and operationof. thesescreens, which are de signed to be shaken by suitable mechanism(not shown), are so well known in the art that further description isunnecessary.

Supported upon thev frame above the scalping screens is an upwardlyextending wind trunk D, having at the bottom an outlet-opening 4,extending from one side of Applicationfiled September 29, 1908. SerialNo. 455,258.

the wind trunk to the other, through which the grain drops upon thescalping screens cally for some distance. At the topit terinmates in anelbow orneck 5 which turns sharply to the rear and enters the front wallof a settling chamber E. The rear wall of the settling chamber is madewith a Vertical portion 6 opposite the discharge end of the ashereinafter explained. To secure the best results the wind trunk iscarried up verti neck to form a battle plate for the air and materialcoming from the wind trunk, while at a point below. the discharge end ofthe neck it is made with a rearwardly extending discharge fine 7 topermit the escape of the airblast and the dust-and light refuse carriedwith it. The flue, of course, extends from one side of the-chamber tothe other.

Supported upon the frame A near-the bottom of the wind trunk is a blowerhaving a casing F which extends across the front Wall of the wind trunk.The blower chamber communicates with the interior of the wind trunkthrough a' common opening 8 in the side of the casing and the front.wall Rotatablewithin the journal'support upon the frame A. The

opening 8 in the fan casing is positioned at 1 the side of the casingwell above the bottom In order to direct the air blast up along theinner side of the front wall of the wind trunk.

' Arranged across the front wall of the wind trunk just above the bloweris a hopper. G having at *the bottom a feed opening in which is arrangeda squaredshaft 11 rotatably supported upon the frame at the. ends ofthe=hopper. Beneath the hopper is a feed pan 12 which receives the grainfrom the hopper. The feed pan leads downwardly to an opening 13 in thefront wall of the wind trunk, through which the grain enters the.

trunk.

Slidably arranged upon the underside of the downwardly inclined. hopperbOttOIl l' 14 are three sliding sections or slides 15 having attheirlower ends valve plates 16 adapted,

when the slides are moved down far'enough,ilto pass under the squaredshaft 11 and abut against the back board 17, andthus cut ofla the supplyOf -grain. The slides extend side'- Each by side entirely across thehopper. slide is operated independently of the others by suitable means,such as the screw 18,

.. which is slid ably supported in a lug 19, and

extending entirely across the chamber and leading down to a spout at theside of chamber, whereby such of the lighter refuse as has not beenblown out of the flue 7 is spouted out of the side of the machine.

The fan shaft 10 is driven fromthe drive shaft 26 by means of the belt2'? which passes over the pulleys 28 and 29, upon the drive shaft andfan shaft, respectively; and the feed shaft 11 is driven from the fanshaft by means of the belt 30 which passes overthe pulleys 31 and 32upon the fan shaft and feed shaft, respectively.

' In practice the grain to be cleaned is put into the hopper and theslides 15 are ad-'- justed so as to leave an opening of the desired sizebetween them and the back hop- ;per board 17. The. grain will pass downthrough this opening to the feed pan andthence through the opening 13into the wind trunk, being kept in motion by the squared shaft 11, therotation of which insures a steady flow of the grain and prevents clogging of the feed opening. As the sliding sections 15 are independent ofeach other, they may be" set at diflerentpositions so that the fallinggrain will be evenly distributed across the-entire width of the windtrunk;

By reason of the position of the opening in the fan casing the blastof'air from the fan will be driven up along the inner side of thefrontwall' of the wind trunk, sotha t the grain from the-hopper will bedischarged as directly into the air current, and be car'- .ried up withit. The amount of the blast can, of course, be regulated by the speedof; operation of the fan, so asto secure the rightamonnt for the grainwhich is to be cle aned.

" Suflicien't blast 1S used tocarry the grain di-,

rectly up, the heavier grain being carried only 7 a short distance whilethe lighter is carried.

.' loses part of its force the to the top of the wind trunk. As theblast good grain drops back mto the back art 0 the wind trunk where theair is slac whileeverything of a 'lighter nature, such as dust, finedirt, cha'fi',

, small pin oats, and fine seed is'carried over with the blast into thechamber-E, where the dust and chaif' are carried out of the dischargeflue 7 with the'airblast, while every- Witnesses: thing else-settlesdown onto the partition 01- f I chute 24 andpasses out through the spout25, making practically a dustless machine. The good grain, witeverything which has not beenv carried over into the chamber E, fallsdown the slack air part of the windtrunk through the opening 4 on to thescalping screens where everythlng larger than the grain to be saved isscalped ofl, while the rest passes down on to. the lower screen 3 ,whereeverything finer than the grain to be saved is sifted out.

In order to direct the falling grain toward the middle portioh of thewind trunk, a short dow'nwardlyand inenters the chamber E will be blownagainst the opposite wall portion or baflie 6 and be broken in itscourse, therebypermitting the heavier material carried with it to dropfiupon the bottom chute 24: instead of being ;carried out with the airblast. j the present improved process I remove from Thus, by

the grain 'before it reaches the scalping 3 screens all the stuff whichso oftenobstructs and clogs the scalping screens, thereby increasing thecapacity of the scalper, and

causing the grain to. 'go through faster and come out cleaner. Themachine is alsopractically dustless as the dust and dirt are lifted outand carried off before the grain:

reaches the screens. f

It is obvious that modifications may be made in the details of thedevice without departing from the principle of the inventionthe scope ofwhich is defined in the claim.

I claim as my invention:

In a grain cleaner, the combination, with the screens, of a refusechainber and a wind trunk arranged side by side, the'wind-trunkextending upwardly from the screens and wardly inclined plate-33 issecured upon the 'inner side of each of the side walls, of the trunk,inthe rear or slack air-portion there- -of, in position to intercept anddeflect the falling grain.

It is to be observed that the air blast as it terminating in an elbowleading into the refuse chamber, and the refuse. chamber opposed to theelbow outlet and a discharge flue positioned lower down than the elbow,

.having on the opposite side a baflie wall I an inclined chute extendingacross the chamher and leading to the bottom thereof for.

the *discharge of refuse, a blowerin posi-,- tion to send an air-blastup through the wind trunk, and means for' supplying grain 'to vthe windtrunk above the blower, the wind' trunk having agrain outlet above thescreens. 4

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presenceof two wltnes'se's.1

THOMAS o. HELGERSON, j

ARTHUR P. Lornnor, Harrie Sm'rH.

